MARLBOROUGH College welcomed over 100 guests to Action for the River Kennet’s Life of the River Day, to learn more about the wildlife that inhabits the river.

In partnership with Thames Water, ARK held the event at the college with 120 people joining in, taking the chance to have a look around the biology lab where ARK had set up a display discussing the many creatures that depend on a healthy chalk stream to survive, the trays and tanks contained everything from flatworms to brown trout. ARK also led a river dipping session for the children, giving them nets to see what they could discover in the river.

Anna Forbes, project manager for ARK, said: “Everyone was very interested in the specimens we had collected and exhibited in the laboratory and the river dipping for wildlife was pretty much non-stop. It was great to see so many children keen to get in the river and nice for them to find a wide array of chalk stream creatures too. Bullheads were definitely the favourite.

“The American signal crayfish attracted lots of attention and were a great way to explain about invasive species. Other stars of the show were the two types of brown trout, which showed the public the differences between wild and farmed trout.”

The next ARK event, the Summer River Walk, will be taking place on August 27, starting from Elcot Mill between 2-3pm to walk along the river to Axford.

For more information visit www.riverkennet.org/events.